Friday 7 December 2012

Racism? You're Kidding

When you hear there has been a racist incident, what is your first thought? I think someone has been attacked physically or verbally on the basis that they have a different skin colour. I assume that these are unprovoked attacks on the part of the victim. Apparently not.

This week I had a call from school saying Big had been involved in a racist incident.I was quite shocked as he isn't a name caller without being provoked and I've never known him to be violent, ever. I was told the incident was of a serious nature and the school takes a very strong view of such behaviour. I was also told some previous students had been excluded for such behaviour.
By this point all sorts of things were running round my head. What the hell had happened? This doesn't sound like my boy at all. What could he have done to get thrown out of school?? What happened to my innocent little boy who wouldn't say boo to a goose?! I can't believe I'm hearing all this.

The teacher went on to say they would not be excluding Big due to his previous record of good behaviour. It seems totally out of character for him (no kidding!!), he owned up straight away and appologised. "He didn't seem to understand the ramifications of what he had said" I said he can say things without fully understanding what they mean. I still didn't have a clue what had happened.

When the teacher finally told me what had happened, I honestly couldn't believe my ears! Prepare yourselves...
He had been walking through school with his mate when some of the girls jumped out on him. They were messing about and trying to make him jump. It obviously worked as he blurted out "Gorilla". According to Big, one of them is called that by several people. It's like a nickname and yes, she's black.

Having spoken to Big about it, he was just calling her names. He didn't see it as racist. He wasn't singling her out specifically as a lesser person than his other white peers. He was merely commenting on the most obvious difference. Like any name calling, ginger, big nose, smelly. They are all based on the most obvious thing that makes the person different. This incident was no different. Not racist, just kids being kids and calling each other names. The school has just over reacted on her behalf. To prove my point, Big and this girl are mates, they sat next to each other in their next class and got on fine!

I have to be honest, to me it's just name calling. When we were at school, we messed about and called people much worse than that! I think people have developed an over sensitivity to anything with the mere suggestion of racism. If Big had singled out this girl repeatedly and called her names then yes, I would agree, it would be racist. A one off incident after being surprised, I think he just said the first thing that came to mind and definitely not racism!



3 comments:

  1. Definitely not Racism. Politically Correct Madness!
    Wondering why the other kids didnt get accused of being racist seen as she is called it by other people. Poor Big, I hope he didnt get too upset over this. Did you end up taking it further with the school for branding Big as a racist?

    http://xmylifeasamummyx.blogspot.co.uk/

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  2. Our experience of school has been that they don't have the time or inclination to listen to both sides of the story. Much easier and more clear cut for them to deal with it without knowing the full story. In our county the statistics indicate that a lot of schools tend to just exclude any kids that aren't straightforward to deal with (91% of primary school exclusions last yr in our county were children with special needs such as ASD / ADHD). Hope it was a one-off and that the school deal with things better the rest of the time. x

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  3. Poor Big had no idea what all the fuss was about! I'm sure he is going to be very careful what he says in future. He gets really upset if he knows he has done something to hurt someones feelings. He's quite sensitive and mindful of others. I think that is the problem all over now, nobody has the time for anything. Its all black and white or swept under the nearest carpet.
    Thank you both for your comments xx

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